


Shut Down

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Falling Skies
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:24:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4458236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaq reveals personal information that Hal finds shocking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I need you to hold Matt!” Hal says, holding Matt at Shaq. 

Matt took a rough fall and won’t lay still to let Hal check him out, so he needs his Volm boyfriend to hold onto his little brother so he can look.  Plus, it’s always fun to watch Shaq interact with Matt.

Shaq gives him a Look, but holds Matt anyway.  He holds Matt like he might hold a bomb (actually, Hal has seen Shaq handling explosives, and he is far more comfortable holding explosives). 

“You know,” Hal starts conversationally as he lifts Matt’s shirt to check for bruising, “sometimes people would mistake Matt for my kid when we’d go to the park together.  I don’t think anyone is gonna make that mistake with you two.”

“Hal would always get me ice cream after!” Matt adds, squirming in Shaq’s grip.  “It was pretty cool.  I’m a total chick magnet.”

“You are correct that no one would mistake me for Matthew’s-“

“Matt!”

“Matt’s father as we are different species, but I am a father,” Shaq says blithely. 

“What?!” Hal exclaims.  “Are your translations off?”

“I do not believe so,” Shaq says.  “You stated that Matt was mistaken for your offspring and that no one would mistake me for his parent.  I agreed, and then informed you that I do have offspring of my own.”

Matt looks between the two of them.  “Where are they?” 

“Two of my offspring are stationed on other planets, and one is still a hatchling and thus lives on a nestship,” Shaq explains calmly as Hal continues to stare at him, openmouthed.

“If they come to Earth, you gotta tell us!” Matt says. 

“Why?” Shaq asks.

“To meet them!  I wanna meet them!  I wanna make more alien friends!” Matt says.  “Like Dad has Cochise and you have Hal!”

“I don’t think you need to be making alien friends like me and Dad have Shaq and Cochise,” Hal says quickly, grabbing him back out of Shaq’s arms.  His baby brother doesn’t need to be even hypothetically having sex.  “Besides, Shaq and Cochise are your friends.”

“Yeah, they are, but Shaq still likes you best, and Cochise still likes Dad best,” Matt points out. 

“We’ve, uh, gotta go,” Hal says, practically fleeing from Shaq. 

* * *

 

Hal lets Shaq slide his pants down when they’re alone that night, but then he pauses. 

“We need to talk,” Hal says, wincing a little because he knows that Shaq likes talking even less _before_ sex. 

Shaq grunts and lays back on their bed, hands resting on Hal’s hips.  “About?”

“You have three kids,” Hal says.  “We’ve been sleeping together for over a year, and you’ve never mentioned that you have three kids out there!”  And it’s not just sex at this point.

“They were not relevant,” Shaq says.

“Not relevant?  How could your kids not be relevant?” Hal asks. 

“They are progressing at acceptable rates.  Soon, my hatchling will receive their first assignment,” Shaq says.  “My other offspring have fought many battles successfully.”

Hal has no idea how the hell he’s not known that Shaq is a dad to three kids, two of whom are fighting in a war.  He feels like he should have picked up on something.  He’s the perceptive, emotionally stable one.

“Do you miss them?  Do you want to be with them?” Hal asks. 

“I wish that they will be successful as I wish all Volm warriors will be successful,” Shaq says serenely. 

“That’s… not really an answer,” Hal says.  “They’re your kids.  Do you talk to them?  What about their other parent?” 

Yeah, his relationship with Shaq had started out as just sex, but it didn’t stay that way for long.  Or, he didn’t think so.  Maybe he’s some kind of space mistress. 

“Two of my former mates are deceased and one is stationed on a distant planet,” Shaq says.  It’s like he’s talking about the weather.

“Oh god,” Hal says, stroking his cheek.  “I’m so sorry.  Do you want me to put my pants back on so we can talk about it?”

“No,” Shaq says.  “I wish for you to remove your remaining clothing so we can engage in intercourse as we planned.”

Hal squints at him and stretches out on top of him.  That’s not happening anytime soon.  “How are your kids doing?”

“They are making satisfactory progress in their endeavors,” Shaq says. 

“Don’t you talk to them?  I can’t go a day without checking in on Matt,” Hal says.

“Your human need to constantly be in contact with each other is not ours,” Shaq says.  “I talk to them approximately yearly, occasionally not as often if we are engaged in more important matters.”

“Is this apathy just you or a Volm thing?” Hal asks.

“It is how the Volm are.  We do not form close attachments with our offspring.  We do not raise them.  We are aware they are likely to die, and so there is no reason to bond closely.  It would create too many issues,” Shaq says. 

Hal frowns.  “Shaq, that’s awful.  They’re your kids.”

“I helped produce them, but we do not have the same close bonds with our offspring as humans do,” Shaq says.  “We have been at war for generations.  It is not practical to have human-style relationships.  War does not make space for families.”

“You can make it work,” Hal says.

“No,” Shaq says.  “We cannot.  We have greater goals that cannot be set aside for family.”

“So, I take it you’re not close to your mates either?” Hal asks. 

“They had genetic material that was compatible with my own, and so we decided to procreate,” Shaq says.  “There is very little point in becoming attached to potential mates.  They are also likely to die.”

“It sounds lonely,” Hal says.  He can’t even pull out the sarcasm.

“We have much to occupy our time with,” Shaq says. 

“It’s not the same.  They’re people you helped make!  They’re people you helped make a child with!” Hal says.  “That’s gotta mean something.”

“Hatchling,” Shaq corrects.  “It does not.  The last time I saw my youngest offspring in person, I laid their egg.  And then the egg was placed on a ship and taken to the nestship.  That is how it should be.”

“That’s unbelievable,” Hal says, “and you don’t want to see them?”

Shaq’s hand starts stroking through his hair gently.  “No.  I want them to succeed.  Even if I wished to see any of my offspring, it would be to their detriment.”  

“How?” Hal asks.  “You’re their dad!”

“I am not,” Shaq says.  “I am their… progenitor.  I do not have a relationship with them like you have with your father, and that is okay.  I remain updated on their progress, and perhaps one day we will be stationed near each other.  But we will never have a close relationship.”

Hal doesn’t know if he’s projecting how he would feel, or if there are notes of longing in Shaq’s voice.  He snuggles a little closer to Shaq. 

“I’m sorry,” Hal murmurs.

“Do not be.  Volm do not require close personal relationships,” Shaq says.

“Maybe, maybe not, but you guys do like them,” Hal says, scooting up a little bit so he can kiss Shaq.

“If you are referring to Chichauk, he is not like most Volm are,” Shaq says.  “He has always been different.”

“I’m talking about you, silly.  It’s not Cochise I’m laying on top of half-naked,” Hal says.

“I am not silly,” Shaq says, staring at the ceiling. 

“Debatable.  You _are_ in a close personal relationship, though,” Hal says. 

Shaq just grunts. 

“Or are you just in this for my prime DNA?” Hal asks, shaking his butt a little.

“That cannot be it,” Shaq says.

“Hey!” Hal says. 

“You are small and frail.  You are short even by human standards,” Shaq says.

Hal’s pretty sure that Shaq is trying to get a rise out of him so that he’ll stop talking about his offspring.  He decides to let him distract him, so Hal pulls his shirt off. 

“I’ll show you fragile!” Hal teases as he starts kissing Shaq.  “Clothes off, now.”

“Finally,” Shaq mumbles as flips them so he’s on top of Hal.

When they’re done, his arms wrapped around Shaq’s slick naked body, Hal still can’t stop thinking about Shaq’s kids out there by themselves without Shaq there for them.

* * *

 

“So Shaq has kids, huh?” Ben says.

Hal rubs his temples, and then lets his head thud on the table.  He’s trying to eat breakfast, but his brain is still stuck on Shaq’s kids. 

“How do you know?” Hal asks.

“Pretty sure Matt told everyone,” Ben says, grinning at him.  “Dad turned an incredible shade of green when Matt called him a grandpa.”

“Oh man, I wish I had seen that.  At least then something would have gone well with this,” Hal says.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asks, laying his head next to Hal’s and raising an eyebrow. 

“Shaq’s had kids for the whole time we’ve been together.  Three of them!  With three different Volm!  And he never mentioned them, and he doesn’t want to see them or even seem to care about them,” Hal says.  “But it also seems like he does.”

“Have you considered that he doesn’t really have a choice?” Ben says.

“They’re his kids!” Hal says.  “The way he talks, he sounds completely heartless.”

“The Volm have been fighting for hundreds of years,” Ben says, “and from what I’ve gleaned from overhearing Cochise and Dad talk, almost every single Volm in the past hundreds of years has gone off to war, which means every single Volm has known that their kid could die violently at any time.  Maybe they decided that they had no other choice, except to try to make that as painless as possible.”

“But that’s not right!” Hal exclaims.  “There’s no way to magically make it easier.”

“I’m not saying I agree.  I probably would have given up on… everything because of the spikes, except for I couldn’t do that to Dad or you or Matt,” Ben says, shrugging a little.  “But, we’re not Volm, and once we’ve won the war on Earth, we’ve won the war and we can rebuild.  When the Volm win the war on Earth, they go on to the next planet.  I’m just saying, it seems like self-protection, for all the Volm.”

“It sucks,” Hal says miserably. 

“They’re not your kids, Hal,” Ben says, nudging him a little. 

“I know,” Hal says.  “It’s just… weird.  They’re out there, and they’re Shaq’s kids.” 

“But they’re not your kids,” Ben says. 

Hal just nods.

* * *

 

When Hal pauses in the middle of sex the next night, Shaq groans.

“Are you going to require that I discuss my offspring again?” Shaq asks.

“Don’t sound so excited to talk about your own kids,” Hal says.

“I am not excited to discuss my offspring; I desire sexual contact because my genitalia is already inserted in your anus,” Shaq says.

“We’ve talked about dirty talk before, Shaq; that’s not sexy,” Hal admonishes. 

“You are sexy, however,” Shaq says.  “Do you wish to talk?”

“Yeah…” Hal says.  “Sorry.”

Shaq gently pulls Hal off of him and Hal plops on the bed beside him. 

“This is not your concern,” Shaq says, voice extra grumbly. 

“I don’t know how you can know you have three kids out there and not do anything about it,” Hal says. 

“It is how we live,” Shaq says. 

“I don’t think I could ever do that,” Hal says.

“I have noticed you persist in your human forms of caring, even when it is not prudent,” Shaq says. 

“I am human, you know,” Hal says.

“Do not remind me,” Shaq says. 

“I care for you like a human, too,” Hal says quietly.  He doesn’t look over at him.

“I am aware,” Shaq says, resting his hand on Hal’s shoulder. 

Hal looks up to see Shaq looking at him seriously.  “Does that bother you?”

“It will be unpleasant for you if I die,” Shaq says.

Hal snorts a little.  “Yeah, yeah it would be.  But it’d be unpleasant for me if I just shut myself off from caring about people.”

“You did not merely decide to continue to care for your own family after war began,” Shaq says.  “You decided to care for new people as well.  For the Volm, that is considered an immense weakness.”

Hal smiles softly.  “Not Volm.”

“You are not,” Shaq says.  “And so I must request that you do not press me for more details about my offspring.  You cannot understand our ways and why they are necessary.”

“Okay, I promise,” Hal says.  “But if you ever do want to talk about them, you know where I am.”

“I do,” Shaq says.

Hal smiles and starts kissing Shaq, using way more tongue than a human would like, but just enough for a Volm (or at least Shaq).

Shaq pulls away.  “Please, lay on your side.”

“Okay,” Hal says, turning over and expecting the feeling of Shaq inside him again. 

Instead, Shaq’s arms wrap around him, pulling him close against Shaq’s body.  Shaq’s face presses against the back of his neck. 

Hal finds Shaq’s hand and holds it tightly.  They lay like that all night.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for the Volm basically being eugenicists

“Something strange happened today, so I want to ask you a kind of personal question,” Tom says.  He looks up at Cochise with sleepy, about to fall asleep eyes.  Every day is so exhausting, but he still has to make time to talk to Cochise.  It’s so important, even if as soon as he lays down in Cochise’s arms, all he wants is to fall asleep.

“I will attempt to answer your question,” Cochise says.

“So, you kind of have a history of just… dropping big, important things on me,” Tom says, “and today Shaq did the same thing to Hal.  Hal found out that Shaq has kids.”

“And you wish to know about Shak-Chic’s offspring?” Cochise asks.

“No- well, kind of- but I want to know if you have kids, too,” Tom says, heart beating rapidly.  There could be little baby Cochises running around the galaxy that he has no idea about.  He feels bizarrely protective of these hypothetical baby Cochises.   “Do you have kids out there somewhere?”

“Tom, I informed you of my defect,” Cochise says.

“I don’t understand,” Tom says.  “Does it affect your reproductive system too?”

“The Volm do not allow reproduction by Volm such as myself,” Cochise says.  “I would weaken the genetic composition of my people.”

“What?” Tom asks.  There are all kinds of historical precedents for this, of course, and for the first time he’s seriously doubted their decision to ally with the Volm.

“I have not reproduced, and I will never reproduce,” Cochise says.  “It is forbidden.  No one would wish to reproduce with me anyway.  My defect makes me an unappealing mate.”

“That’s disgusting.  That’s absolutely disgusting,” Tom says, sitting up.  “You can’t just forbid someone from having kids because…” He hates using Volm terminology.

“They are defective,” Cochise supplies. 

Tom winces.  “I hate it when you call yourself defective.”

“It is the truth,” Cochise says.

“But it’s not!” Tom says.

Cochise reaches up to stroke his face and Tom sighs, leaning into the comforting touch.

“I understand the necessity,” Cochise says.  “Do not get offended on my behalf.”

“You’re such a good parent, though, which makes it extra unfair,” Tom says.  “Your kids would be so lucky.”  Certainly better off than Shaq’s kids.

“Volm do not raise our own offspring,” Cochise says.  “We would have very little contact, and they would most likely be ashamed to have me for a parent.  They would not be lucky.”

“Would you want to have kids?  I mean, put aside everything else,” Tom says.  He wants to know just how much has been taken from Cochise.

“I have been honored that you have allowed me to parent your offspring,” Cochise says.  “I have spent far more time with them than I would have with offspring I produced with another Volm.  After such an experience, I do not believe I would be able to send my offspring away, so I do not wish to have offspring with another Volm.”

Tom nods a little.  “I can’t even imagine doing that.”  

“If it was possible, I would enjoy raising offspring that I produced with you, but you have already given me far more than I ever thought possible,” Cochise says.

Tom lays back down and holds Cochise’s hand, thinking.  “We’d make some cute kids, I bet.” 

“No Volm has ever reproduced with a member of another species,” Cochise says.  “I do not believe it is possible.”

“Then I’m extra glad that you get along so well with Hal, Ben, and Matt,” Tom says.  “They love you, a lot.”

“I love them as well,” Cochise says. 

Tom’s still exhausted, but he’s sad now, too.  Not just because every time Cochise calls himself defective, it makes him sad and angry, but because he’s slowly getting a wider picture of the Volm, and it’s not flattering. 

But at least the Volm gave them Cochise, even if from the sounds of it, they’ve been cruel to him.  That’s over, though.


End file.
